Comment: The following article appeared in Kathimerini English Edition of Athens on 28 May 2003.

Athens: Turk military has to step aside

Greece
yesterday responded angrily to a declaration by Turkey's top soldier in
which he said Turkish warplanes would continue to fly in air space in
the Aegean which Athens says is Greek air space, saying any incident
could damage Turkey's hopes of joining the EU. Greek Foreign Minister
George Papandreou also stepped into the dispute between Turkey's
military and its government, saying that his interlocutor was the
government.

«The European
Union has stressed that the role of the military in Turkey has to be
that of the military in every other democracy. It is a role in which it
serves the democratically elected political leadership and not the other
way round. I am not replying to the military leadership directly or
indirectly, because my interlocutor is the foreign minister of Turkey
and we have regular contact,» Papandreou said at the end of a meeting of
EU and Mediterranean countries on Crete yesterday. He was commenting on
statements made by Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok on Monday in
which the general said the military was unhappy with appointments being
made by the Turkish government. Ozkok also repeated that Turkey
recognized only 6 miles of Greek air space, not 10 miles, stressing that
Turkish planes would continue flying in what he called «international
air space.»

Yesterday
Athens recorded 11 infringements of the Athens Flight Information Region
and three air space violations, leading to eight mock dogfights.

Papandreou
said he had discussed the issue with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah
Gul, at their meeting in Crete. «We stressed that a solution must be
found in the context of international law, this is an issue that has
plagued us for years and it must end,» Papandreou said. «For Turkey to
join the EU it must carry out some reforms, which we and other countries
did.»

Defense
Minister Yiannos Papantoniou charged, «It is clear we are facing
increased provocation and aggression from Turkey in the Aegean.» But he
added, «It cannot be the intention of the Turkish military establishment
to provoke a hot incident in the Aegean because this would cancel
Turkey's European future.»"